Special Counsel Moves to Block Some Trump Admin Probationary Layoffs

Special Counsel of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger in an undated photo. U.S. Office of Special Counsel/Handout via Reuters

Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger has asked a board to pause the dismissal of a number of federal workers because he has determined that the terminations violated federal law, Dellinger’s office said on Feb. 24.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) requested that the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board block the termination of six workers, according to filings disclosed on Monday.

The termination of those workers, along with some other probationary status employees, was “issued to reduce the numbers of overall employees rather than because the Complainants failed to meet expectations during their trial periods,” Dellinger’s office told the board in a request for a stay.

Some termination letters, for instance, stated, “[You] have not demonstrated that your further employment at the Agency would be in the public interest.”

According to the filing, based on the letters and other evidence, officials improperly circumvented the Civil Service Reform Act because they did not evaluate each employee’s performance.

“Firing probationary employees without individualized cause appears contrary to a reasonable reading of the law, particularly the provisions establishing rules for reductions in force,” Dellinger said in a statement. “Because Congress has directed that OSC ’shall' protect government employees from PPPs [prohibited personnel practices], I believe I have a responsibility to request a stay of these actions while my agency continues to investigate further the apparent violation of federal personnel laws.”

The White House has not commented on the action.

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has terminated thousands of workers, many of whom were on probationary status or had been with the government for less than a year.

They worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Office of Personnel Management, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, one of the groups that filed a complaint on behalf of the fired workers, said in a statement that the OSC action “confirms what we have long known: the mass termination of federal workers is unlawful.”

While OSC is currently only challenging the terminations of six workers, Dellinger said he “believes other probationary employees are similarly situated to the six workers for whom he currently is seeking relief,” according to the office, and “is considering ways to seek relief for a broader group without the need for individual filings.”

President Donald Trump fired Dellinger after taking office in January, but a federal judge ordered him kept in place, at least for now. An appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court did not reverse the decision.

The three-member Merit Systems Protection Board helps oversee actions by the Office of Personnel Management.

Trump also attempted to terminate one of the board’s members, but a different judge blocked that firing as the lawsuit she brought against the administration proceeded.